


Castles in the Sand

by SerStolas



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Destroy Ending, F/M, Fluff, N7 Day, Post Destroy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-29 11:03:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12629571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: Shepard and Garrus share a quiet moment after the war and remember their fallen friends.Happy N7 Day 2017 everyone.





	Castles in the Sand

**Author's Note:**

> Mass Effect belongs to Bioware.

The cry of gulls filled a turquoise sky and the sound of waves lapping at the shore hummed in the background.

Garrus Vakarian eyed the water with some misgiving as he watched his wife splashing through the surf, light reflecting off her buzzed red hair, and grinning from ear to ear. She wore a black one piece swimsuit with, predictably, a red stripe in the center of two white stripes and the N7 logo on the left breast. Garrus wasn't sure if his wife owned any clothing that wasn't either Alliance issued or covered in N7s. Even her armor at their wedding, painted in Vakarian blue, had the N7 symbol on it.

He was partially amazed there wasn't anyone else on the beach, though the rest of the Normandy crew, both past and present, were supposed to be here later for a, as James put it, good old-fashioned barbeque. There would be two separate grills thankfully, one for dextro based food and one for levo. Garrus and Shepard had managed to figure out the dextro/levo food issue early on during Shepard's recovery from her injuries sustained in the Reaper War.

She was lucky to be alive. Garrus would remember that every day he had with her, and it made him cherish his time with her all the more. When the Normandy had finally returned to Earth 8 months after Shepard had fired the crucible, he'd fully expected to find that she was dead, though he'd hoped otherwise. The months it had taken to repair the Normandy and returned to return to Earth had been the longest he'd ever experienced, even longer than the two years Shepard spent dead. Yet here they were: standing on a beach under a bright golden sun, his wife playing in the water. Slowly Garrus approached the water, feeling the coolness through the specially designed Turian wetsuit he wore. He also had every intention of keeping to the shallows, since Turians weren't known for being good swimmers.

Shepard heard him as he splashed lightly into the water and turned to face him, blue eyes lighting up and smile stretching over her lips as she waded out of the deeper water and to his side, sliding an arm around his waist and leaning up to press her forehead against his. He purred softly in pleasure before shifting to give her a kiss. Their inter-species liaison was one of combined human and turian gestures of affection and ways of life. There were certain compromises one had to make when their bond mate had an entirely different biological base.

"Credit for your thoughts?" Shepard asked, meeting his gaze as he settled his arm around her own waist.

"Thinking about how damn lucky I am to be here with you," Garrus replied, his subvocals humming in contentment.

Her expression turned thoughtful and she reached up with her right hand to run her finger lightly over the scars on his face. "I'd say we're both lucky to be here together," she replied. "Don't think I would have made it through the war and stayed sane without you, Garrus."

"The feeling is mutual, love," Garrus hummed. "But that's what bondmates do, through peace and through war." He repeated one of the lines of their vows and she smiled. Shepard lifted her left arm, a prosthetic painted in black and blue, and regarded one of the results of her injuries from the Reaper war. There were times her knee still gave her trouble and her entire body was crisscrossed in scars, but Garrus always had had a thing for women with scars.

They stood there for several minutes, leaning against each other with the water lapping at their feet, and just drank in the moment. The fact that they were together and could take moments like this now for just the two of them almost made everything worth it.

When she turned her face in towards his chest and let out a soft, shuttering sigh, Garrus glanced at her, concern written on his features. Shepard lifted her eyes and gave him a watery smile. "Just thinking about everyone we lost...Mordin, Ash. I wish they could have seen the end."

Garrus's eyes glanced down the beach as his arm tightened around Shepard. "They would have liked it here. Particularly Mordin."

"He wanted to run tests on seashells," Shepard agreed. She tilted her head a moment the pulled away slightly, taking Garrus's talons in her hand. "He can't collect them now, but we can collect them for him."

"And build, what is it you call them, a sand castle for Ashley?" Garrus suggested.

"That sounds perfect."

They walked the length of the beach towards a nearby pier that had been recently rebuilt, picking up sea shells as they went along and placing them carefully in a bucket. Garrus started out looking for whole shells, but he noticed Shepard occasionally picking up broken ones and held them up to examine them. A few she put back down, but those she kept usually had been water smoothed, colors glittering in the sun. Upon reaching the pier they turned back, picking up just a couple more along the way until they reached their beach umbrella. 

Shepard knelt on one of the towels and opened a bag she'd grabbed that morning, pulling out plastic shovels and buckets. Garrus hummed in amusement at the sight and helped her carry the tools to a perfect spot. Working in tandem, they began to build a sand castle, occasionally going to the water to get a bucket of water.

By the time other members of the Normandy crew began arriving, they had a pretty sizable sand castle. James and Steve arrived with Liara, and they watched Shepard and Garrus for a few minutes before joining in. When Kaidan arrived with Miranda and Oriana, they pitched in as well. Tali arrived in a lighter environsuit than Garrus recalled seeing her in before, with another Quarian, and added their own touches as Tali made a comment to Shepard about oceanside property. Even Zaeed and Jack joined in while Joker helped Shepard shape a wall around the sand castle complex the crew ended up creating.

Then, one by one, each crew member took a shell from the bucket that Garrus and Shepard had collected and placed them on the sand castle. When they were done, they stood together, listening to the sound of gulls and surf, and had a moment of silence for their fallen friends.

Garrus felt Shepard sigh beside him and glanced at her, noting the smile on her face. "We'll never forget them," she said quietly. 

"No, we won't," Garrus agreed. "We'll keep the dead in our memories." He placed his hands on either side of her waist as the crew began to desperise to start preparing the food. "And now, Shepard, is the time for the living."

Her laughter echoed across the sand, and she knew he was right.


End file.
